By Brian Bennett | Photo: Ian Brodie
Ashington’s interim manager Marc Ellison hailed his sides 1-0 win over Consett at Woodhorn Lane on Tuesday night and said “it was great to give the crowd something to shout about.”
Over 400 came through the gate on an evening which gradually saw a dip in temperature but Ashington warmed to the occasion and were full value for their second victory in four days after securing a similar result against Garforth Town on Saturday.
Defender Chris Reid was on target with his first goal for the club whilst the visitors finished the game with nine men after midfielders Calvin Smith and Marc Costello were both sent off by referee Alex Clark for second yellow card offences inside the final quarter of an hour.
A delighted Ellison said: “It was important to back Saturday’s performance up with another good one and take a positive result from the game. We know our home form hasn’t been the best this season but to get a little monkey off our backs and give the crowd something to shout about was great. We’re starting to look like a proper team lately who are willing to win ugly if that’s what it takes to do so – and at the minute the result is the most important thing. If I’m being totally honest, I thought we have been better on the ball and made better decisions in the two previous games. However at times tonight we’ve played some really good football and caused Consett problems. The work rate and desire to protect our goal was second to none once again leaving me a very happy man.”
He continued: “So, yes there’s stuff to work on, and there always will be but I’m delighted at how the past few days have played out, especially for the players as they’ve really bought in to what we’re trying to achieve and the way we want to play. If we keep believing in it and improving, hopefully we can carry on the way we are. Unfortunately we’ve been unlucky to have injuries this week to both Liam Henderson in training and Liam Wotherspoon in the warm up tonight but I’m really happy to have Craig Spooner and Ben Sampson back involved with the squad.”
He went on: “We have also been unsuccessful with our attempt to have Chris Reid’s red card against Garforth Town last Saturday over turned and he will be a big miss but we have players in the squad who need to take their chances now and we’ll hopefully be welcoming Oli Thompson into the squad at the weekend if all goes well in training this week.”